New 1862 memorial planned

(Photo courtesy City of Mankato)

As the 150th anniversary of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War approaches, the Mankato City Council has agreed to support a new memorial commemorating the single most remembered event of the conflict: the execution of 38 Dakota warriors on Dec. 26, 1862.

The Mankato Free Press reported that the memorial will list the names of the 38 Dakota hanged that day. The conflict was fought mainly in and near the Minnesota River valley in southern Minnesota in August and September of 1862.

Also on the memorial (image above) will be two poems. One, by Katherine Hughes, reads in part:

Remember the innocent dead,

Both Dakota and white,

Victims of events they could not control.

Remember the guilty dead,

Both white and Dakota,

Whom reason abandoned.

The memorial will be placed in Reconciliation Park in downtown Mankato. A committee is working to raise about $100,000 to build the memorial.

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